Authorities investigate Shrewsbury gas-line fire

This aerial image was taken from the Fox 25 helicopter. myfoxboston.com

SHREWSBURY — Two natural gas line workers escaped serious injury after a pipe they were working on ruptured and ignited on Colonial Drive Friday afternoon.

Shrewsbury Fire Capt. Aaron Roy said one NStar employee suffered minor burns and was taken as a precaution to UMass Memorial Medical Center – University Campus in Worcester. Another worker suffered minor burns and was treated at the scene.

Firefighters went to the area of the massive fire about 1 p.m. Flames were reported to have shot 30 feet into the air, and engulfed an excavator being used on the site, causing its gas tank and tires to explode.

Capt. Roy said the ignition likely occurred because of static-electricity buildup in the line. Workers saw the pipe begin to swell and got out of the ditch in time to avoid serious injury, the captain said.

Response to the fire was complicated because the flames blocked access to a truck that contained tools necessary to shut off the line. A backup truck was called in to shut off the gas line up the street, Capt. Roy said. After the line was shut off, firefighters quickly extinguished the fire that destroyed the backhoe.

The fire also damaged a nearby power line, which knocked out electricity in the immediate area, he said.

Capt. Roy said firefighters left the area after about an hour.

Residents in the neighborhood said they heard a series of "booms" when the explosion occurred, causing some to leave their homes.

Colonial Drive is a long street that runs off Route 140 and is parallel to Interstate 290. It is a heavily populated residential area, and the only exit and entrance from the neighborhood is off Route 140.

Bob Ryan, who lives at 8 Colonial Drive, was among the neighbors who saw the flames.

"The flames were shooting a good 30 feet in the air," Mr. Ryan said. "I was in the house and was going to make a phone call and the line went dead because there was this big ball of fire that torched the wires."

Mr. Ryan said NStar crews had been at the site earlier Friday, working on a problem first reported on Christmas Eve.

Immediately after the explosion, police began to evacuate homes within 500 feet of the explosion, but crews were able to shut the gas off within 15 minutes.

Residents were not allowed to leave the neighborhood because they would have had to go past the flaming gas main, according to resident Vanessa Parks.